Senate Democrats urged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to recuse himself from any decisions involving the U.S. government’s pension insurer and Sears Holdings Corp., the bankrupt retailer he previously backed, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Senate Finance Committee members Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), said in a Friday letter that “anything short of full recusal will present a significant conflict of interest and risk bias” in the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s dealings with Sears. The PBGC backstops corporate pensions and is the largest single Sears creditor, assuming the retailer terminates one or both of its underfunded retirement plans through bankruptcy. A former Sears investor and board member before joining the Trump administration, Mnuchin now sits on the PBGC’s board along with Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
